1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to an improved data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to an apparatus and method for lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) administrator task notification control.
2. Background of the Invention
A directory server provides a centralized directory service for intranet, network, and extranet information. Directory servers integrate with existing systems and act as a centralized repository for the consolidation of employee, customer, supplier, and partner information. Directory servers may be extended to manage user profiles and preferences, as well as extranet user authentication.
Usually, the front end of a directory server is a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP). LDAP provides a common language that client applications and servers use to communicate with one another. LDAP is a “lightweight” version of the directory access protocol (DAP) used by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) X.500 standard. DAP, developed at the University of Michigan, gives any application access to the directory via an extensible and robust information framework, but at an expensive administrative cost. DAP uses a communications layer (Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) stack) that is not the Internet standard Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol and has complicated directory-naming conventions. The current version of LDAP is 3 (LDAPv3), which is described by several Request for Comments (RFCs), RFCs—2251 through 2256 and others. There is currently a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol V3 Revision Working Group (LDAPbis) Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working group which is revising these old RFCs.
An LDAP directory server stores information in a tree-like hierarchical structure and may be characterized by very fast read operations, fairly static data, hierarchical in nature, use of a standard LDAP protocol, and loosely coupled replication. LDAP preserves the best features of DAP while reducing administrative costs. LDAP uses an open directory access protocol running over TCP IP and uses simplified encoding methods. LDAP retains the X.500 standard data model and can support millions of entries for a modest investment in hardware and network infrastructure.
All servers require maintenance and, in maintaining a directory server, administrators must actively monitor the error log files of the directory server for maintenance related information. That is, an administrator must directly request the error log files from the directory server and perform maintenance whether the error log identifies administrative maintenance tasks or potential issues. Directly requesting administrative maintenance tasks or potential issues from a directory server is not the most effective approach to communicate maintenance information with administrators.